THE TOMATO (Lycopersicon esculentum) is a New World plant, originally found in Peru and carried back to Spain from whence it quickly spread to Italy (pommidoro) and France, where it was known as the pomme d'amour and thought to have aphrodisiac properties (this is the first recorded confusion between the placebo effect and the tomato effectdescribed herein). By 1560, the tomato was becoming a staple of the continental European diet. Of interest is that while this exotic fruit from South America… CONTINUE READING